Al Gore makes a conference call to Eric Eve, his New York State campaign director, as he rides aboard Air Force Two on his way from St. Louis to Nashville. (Reuters)

Gore scores 'Super' sweep
Bradley's bid comes up short in all 15 states

By Jill Zuckman and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff, 3/8/2000

OS ANGELES - It was Al Gore coast to coast, as the vice president seemed bound last night to defeat former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley in every one of the 15 states holding Democratic primaries and caucuses yesterday.

And in an encouraging omen for his prospects in November's general election, Gore was also on track, as early returns poured in, to best Texas Governor George W. Bush in California's ''beauty contest,'' a minigeneral election in the nation's most populous state, where voters could pick from candidates in either party.

Gore's apparent clean sweep almost certainly means an early end to the Democratic nomination fight. Bradley's challenge had made it a spirited, sometimes snarling, substantive and close-run affair, right up to the New Hampshire primary, which Gore narrowly won. But in the five-weeks since, Bradley's national support has steadily slipped away, taking with it his dream of remaking Democratic politics in his sober, insurgent's image.

''I say to you tonight, and hear me well, you ain't seen nothing yet,'' a joyful Gore said at his victory celebration in Nashville, where he challenged the likely Republican nominee to hold joint town meeting gatherings, and to forswear broadcast advertising in favor of twice-weekly debates. He also used the spotlight last night to urge voters to stay the economic course of the Clinton administration.

''We need to build on our record of prosperity, we don't need to go back where we were eight years ago,'' Gore said. ''Republicans tried their approach before, it produced a triple-dip recession and quadrupled the national debt. If you don't want to go back to that, then join us now. Our campaign is your cause.''

Bradley, who is expected to formally drop out of the race as early as today, telephoned Gore to congratulate him before addressing his supporters in New York.

''He won. I lost,'' Bradley said simply. ''And on one level, I agree with Vince Lombardi when he says winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.''

Bradley also reiterated the call he has made through his campaign for a new sort of national leadership that tackles big social problems and unabashedly promotes liberal causes.

''I believe history will write that we tried to change politics, to restore trust, and to defeat the politics of expediency,'' he said.

Today, Gore will meet with his campaign chairman, Tony Coehlo, and his chief strategist, Carter Eskew, to make decisions about his general election strategy. In recent days, he has already begun shifting his attention to Bush, criticizing him for opposing trigger safety locks on guns, campaign finance reform, and attacking his health care record in Texas.

But despite Gore's apparent clamp on the nomination, he plans to go to Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and other states holding primaries on March 14, as well as Illinois, with its primary a week later. Today, he leaves for Michigan, where Democrats will elect delegates in a caucus on Saturday.

Last night, the vice president promised that, as part of his campaign, he and his wife, Tipper, would participate in ''Working Family Days,'' during which they would share the ''real life experiences'' of working Americans.

Gore also praised Arizona senator John McCain for championing campaign finance reform, including a ban on ''soft money.'' The comment was clearly meant as a dig against Republican front-runner George W. Bush, who is the only major presidential candidate not to denounce the loosely regulated, unlimited money raised for voter education and party building.

''I've learned from my mistakes. And I know it's time to change a broken system,'' Gore said, referring to his own entanglement in the campaign finance scandal in 1996.

Gore's call for joint open meetings and twice-weekly debates was the beginning of an effort to eventually portray Bush as a candidate afraid of an open debate on the issues.

For the vice president, last night's results marked an impressive turnaround from his early days in New Hampshire where he initially struggled to confront a strong challenge from Bradley.

As Gore revamped his campaign, moved his headquarters to Nashville and transformed his persona on the stump, Bradley often seemed tactically overmatched. Gore attacked Bradley's image as a reformer and sought to turn the former senator's campaign centerpiece, a health care plan to give insurance to all Americans, against him. In their first debate at Dartmouth College, Bradley responded to Gore's criticism mildly, saying, ''We each have our own experts, and I dispute the cost figure that Al has used.''

In Iowa, Bradley was similarly passive during another debate when Gore asked him to explain why he voted against a flood-relief amendment that would have helped Chris Peterson, a farmer in the audience with 300 of his 400 acres of land under water at the time. Bradley said he wanted to talk about the future, not the past. He didn't defend his record on flood relief, which was not nearly as stark as Gore made it appear. And Bradley never spoke to Peterson's plight at all.

''One of the values of the process is you learn whether they have what it takes, and we learned that Bradley did not,'' said Thomas E. Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ''Gore demonstrated you've got to be tough in this business, and he's certainly that.''

Last fall and into the early winter, Bradley was leading Gore in the polls in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as well as in New York, where he played professional basketball for the New York Knicks for 10 years.

But yesterday, Gore bested Bradley in Massachusetts, New York, and even in Bradley's home state of Missouri.

Bradley has yet to win a contest in the 2000 election, beginning with losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. When he left the Granite State, a four-point loser to Gore, Bradley still hoped he could revive his chances and win the nomination.

Bradley tried to take back the momentum in the days before Super Tuesday by concentrating his time in Washington State, which held an open primary with no Democratic delegates on Feb. 29. But the longer Bradley stayed in Washington, the more he dropped in the polls. Gore won there, as well.

Gore, who once relentlessly criticized Bradley, has started laying the groundwork for a general election campaign and switched his target to the Republican contenders, especially Bush.

From California to Massachusetts, Gore has accused Bush and McCain of being ''two peas in a pod,'' with right-wing agendas against abortion rights and gun control.

But Gore has been harsher toward Bush, singling him out for speaking at Bob Jones University, which until recently banned interracial dating.

In the coming days, Gore is also expected to talk extensively about Bush's record in Texas, which he says ranks second to last for children's health insurance, last for women's health insurance, and first for pollutants and carcinogens released to the air and soil.

While Gore handily prevailed over Bradley last night, his road to the Democratic nomination has had its share of twists and turns. For about nine months, Gore effectively ignored Bradley and campaigned largely from Washington.

Then on Sept. 5, the Gore campaign was rocked by news of a Boston Globe/WBZ poll that showed Gore and Bradley in a dead heat. Bradley hadn't even begun to advertise.

The realization that Gore would have to exert himself to win the primary, much less the nomination, brought massive changes to his campaign. He moved his headquarters from Washington to Nashville. And he began to listen to his New Hampshire supporters, who urged him to ditch the podium and talk directly to voters.

Gore also became more aggressive toward Bradley. First, he began to acknowledge that he had an opponent. Second, he began to criticize Bradley for retiring from the Senate rather than stay to fight the Republican right, and for proposing what Gore considered a flawed health care plan.

Gore's charges largely went unanswered, as Bradley believed the accusations to be too outrageous for anyone to believe. Bradley also said he was running a different kind of campaign, and would not lower himself to respond to Gore's

''darts.''

Only in the final week of campaigning in New Hampshire did Bradley finally launch his bitter counterattack. ''Why should we believe that you will tell the truth as president, if you don't tell the truth as a candidate?'' Bradley asked Gore.

During the week leading up to yesterday's vote, Bradley scaled back his attacks on Gore. In their last debate, which took place in Los Angeles, the two agreed far more than they disagreed. Bradley aides said the former senator had his eye on history, hoping to leave the race on a positive note, rather than a sour one.